Pagan Tama
Top stories of the week in Paganism and Shinto:
- UK: Stonehenge tunnel campaigners win court battle
- Rare ‘Gilgamesh tablet’, once on view at the Museum of the Bible, is one step closer to being returned to Iraq
- UN council adopts resolution condemning harmful practices related to accusations of ‘witchcraft’
Read more below…
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Pagan News
The Czech town of Nasavrky hosts Lughnasadh, an annual festival of Celtic culture
Radio Prague International
Celtic culture has many fans in the Czech Republic who annually organize a Lughnasadh harvest festival in the small town of Nasavrky, east of Prague, to celebrate the country’s Celtic roots…
The ‘Witch of Darwin’
The Guardian
During the 1990s, Marie Cameron was known as the Witch of Darwin. It’s not a title she chose for herself but one she was given by the media, after a traditional Scandinavian bonfire, or ‘witch burning’, turned to violence…
Witches, werewolves and vampires: the Nazi’s quest for the supernatural
History Extra
The ideology of the Nazis drew on theories of racial superiority – but also found inspiration in Nordic mythology, paganism and occult beliefs…
Marvel character Scarlet Witch’s son is stuck with his problematic codename
ScreenRant
Scarlet Witch’s son Billy may be one of the most popular Young Avengers, but his code name Wiccan has long been a source of contention…
Shinto News
Shrine deity parades local streets in place of cancelled Gion Festival
The Mainichi
In place of this west Japan city’s famed Gion Festival, Shinto priests and a group of local parishioners paraded in areas around Yasaka Shrine to “have deities’ spirits travel the community” as locals cannot go out amid the coronavirus pandemic…
Shinto priest who pulls the trigger returns to shrine
Reuters*
After two days of hitting flying clay objects at the Asaka Shooting Range, Naoko Ishihara’s trusted shotgun fell silent as she prepared to return to a 1,300-year-old shrine in Kanuma where she is a hereditary priest…
West Japan’s ‘bullet-evading shrine’ still trying to return 14,000 WWII soldiers’ photos
The Mainichi
A Shinto shrine here was known during the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Pacific War (1941-1945) as the “bullet-evading shrine.” Families of soldiers sent to war would offer photos of them there, and prayed for their safety…
‘Kotodama’: the belief in the magic power of words
Japan Today
Kotodama presupposes that sounds can magically affect objects and that the ritualistic chanting of words can affect both the individual and her environment…
Other News
UK: Stonehenge tunnel campaigners win court battle
BBC
Campaigners have won a court battle to prevent the “scandalous” construction of a road tunnel near Stonehenge…
Rare ‘Gilgamesh’ tablet, once on view at the Museum of the Bible, is one step closer to being returned to Iraq
The Washington Post*
Hobby Lobby purchased the rare artifact, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, for almost $1.7 million to display in the D.C. museum built by the company’s chief executive, Steve Green. The six inch by five-inch clay artifact is part of an epic poem that is considered one of the world’s oldest religious and literary texts…
Italian bronze age water ritual chamber found
The Wild Hunt
A team of archaeologists led by Mauro Cremaschi reported on a discovery of an artificial basin, the Noceto Vasca Votiva…
Mother Nature is ticked off. Can you blame her?
The Washington Post*
Earth provides nutrition and sustenance. She coddles us and protects us. And what have we done in return?…
‘Witch Hunts’ Past & Present
UN council adopts resolution condemning harmful practices related to accusations of ‘witchcraft’
The Wild Hunt
The Human Rights Council of the United Nations adopted the charter for the “Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.”…
Nigeria: Grandma weeps over ‘witchcraft’ allegation on social media, demands probe
Punch
The 74-year-old said certain individuals had been circulating reports on Facebook that she confessed to ‘witchcraft’, adding that the allegation had exposed her to attack and ridicule…
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